Electronic oscillators used to generate precision timing signals are pervasive in virtually every application of electronic devices, instruments, and systems. Despite widespread use, electronic oscillators are relatively noisy and lack adequate stability for applications that require very high stability and spectral purity.
Additionally, the prior art oscillators also has problems such as limited “quality factor” or Q that are not overcome.
Opto-electronic oscillators can convert light energy into stable and spectrally pure microwave signals, but fail to overcome all the problems of the prior art.
See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,723,856 to Yao et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,778 to Yao; U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,430 to Yao et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,567,436 to Yao et al.; and U.S. Pat. App. No. 2003/0160148.
Thus, it would be desirable to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art.